This weekend, we resume our Fellowship of the Ring read-through in Hall of Fire with Frodo and the other hobbits holed-up in one of the Prancing Pony’s private parlour rooms under the protection of Strider.
At the same time, far away in Buckland, fellow-conspirator Fatty Bolger senses the approach of deadly danger.
“AWAKE! FEAR! FIRE! FOES! AWAKE!”
FoTR: Book One, Chapter 11 — A Knife in the Dark
Separate groups of Black Riders invade Frodo’s Crickhollow house and ransack his inn room at Bree. Next morning, the hobbits discover their ponies have been driven off.
They purchase a half-starved pony that Sam immediately names Bill. Strider leads them through woods, marshlands and hills to an ancient, ruined watchtower on Weathertop. Gandalf is not there. Worse, they realise the Enemy is near.
After nightfall, five Black Riders attack. Despite Gandalf’s warnings, Frodo is unable to resist an inner-compulsion to put on the Ring. Frodo finally sees the Ringwraiths in all their dreadful terror as their chieftain stabs the ringbearer. Struck by a blade bearing deathly enchantment, Frodo only just removes the Ring before he faints.
Whether you’re a first-time reader of Tolkien, a first-time chatter who’s never visited TORn’s chatrooms, or an experienced hand who was with us when we began our first read-through back in 2001, we’d love you to join us. (Be prepared for a few spoilers along the way, though!)
So join us this Saturday, August 11 at 6.00pm EDT (New York time), when we’ll discuss all this and much more as we continue our Fellowship of the Ring read-through!
Time zone conversions
Not sure what time the chat will be where you are? Check this little conversion table out for some help. Alternatively, head to Time and Date.
America:
6.00pm EDT (New York)
5.00pm CDT (Chicago)
4.00pm MDT (Denver)
3.00pm PDT (Los Angeles)
Europe:
11.00pm GMT (London)
Midnight CET (Paris)
1.00am EET (Helsinki)
Asia-Pacific
8.00am AEST (Sunday) Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne
10.00am NZST (Sunday) Wellington
How long do your topic chats go for?
Our chats usually last an hour, and are very newbie friendly. Simply drop in and join the conversation! However, our main room, #theonering.net is open 24 hours a day. We don’t always talk Tolkien there, but if you have a burning question, you’ll usually find one or two of “the regulars” up for a chat!
Where — connection details
Chat happens on #thehalloffire on irc.theonering.net — the TORn IRC server. You can connect instantly via our embedded Mibbit client that works inside your web browser.
Alternatively, you can install a dedicated chat program such as mIRC on your computer and just plug in the following connection details.
Server: irc.theonering.net
Port: 6667
Channel: #thehalloffire
